Aussie Bernard Tomic’s run continued on Friday at the Australian Open, where the teen was the only player on the day to upset a seed as an unseeded player, out-slicing and dicing No. 13 Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine 4-6, 7-6(0), 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-3.

“The shots that are coming back the way that you give to players, they’re coming back to you the same, it’s very difficult,” Tomic said of Dolgopolov.

“I’m happy to play him again,” Tomic said of Federer. “I had the experience in Davis Cup, which is good for me. Not sort of the one-off one. I know sort of a way to sort of play him in a way, but Roger can play unbelievable. He’s my favorite player, so it’s always good to play him.”

“I’m feeling really well today,” said the former US Open champ del Potro, quietly moving through the draw. “I played I think the best match of the year. Only four matches in this year, but I was really confidence with my forehand every part of the match. I served much better than the last two matches, and my game is still improving. So it’s a good signal for the next round.”

Another two players going the distance were No. 18 Feliciano “F-Lo” Lopez and John Isner. Isner won the fourth set to force a fifth, but the Spaniard was the fresher, claiming the match 6-1 in the final set.

“It just got away from me,” Isner said of the fifth set. “I just wasn’t as sharp as I needed to be. Wasn’t as mentally sharp as I needed to be at the beginning of that fifth set. It just kind of spiraled out of control there, and it just — I couldn’t climb out of the hole I dug.”

No surprises on the women’s side Friday as seven of the eight matches were decided in straight sets with no seeded upsets.

World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki strolled past No. 31 seed Monica Niculescu 6-2, 6-2, and was joined in the winner’s circle by fellow Top 10 seeds (3) Victoria Azarenka, (5) Li Na (who benefited when (26) Anabel Medina Garrigues retired in the first set with a right ankle sprain), and (8) Agnieszka Radwanska.

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Marcos Baghdatis was fined $800 for smashing four racquets? He should have been given $800 for getting tennis on SportsCenter…The Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovskiy said the ATP players had more than enough votes to strike during the Australian Open over what they consider is too little money going to the players, but said in the end they thought it would be unfair to the tournament organizers…Caroline Wozniacki on hitting nine aces in her second-round win: “Felt a little bit like John Isner out there.”…Andy Roddick was planning on playing mixed in Melbourne with Serena Williams in preparation for the 2012 Olympics tennis, but now the two are likely out due to his injury…ESPN’sRavi Ubha on Mardy Fish’s early loss in Melbourne: “Further, Fish didn’t cover himself in glory with his on-court conduct, again. Indeed, it seems nowadays that whenever Fish loses at a Grand Slam, or anywhere, he’s ticked off, and not only with himself. And here we thought those days had passed. There was that run-in during his defeat to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the U.S. Open — “I don’t speak French, you dumbass” — and Fish clashed with flashy, so-called “Baby Fed” Grigor Dimitrov at the Hopman Cup in Perth this month. They had to be separated by a referee. On Wednesday as the heat persisted in Melbourne, Fish was more concerned with Falla receiving multiple rubdowns for a cramp in the third set than trying to pick up his game.”

Thought Fed played a great match last night. Though Rafa won more easily, Fed looked better. Rafa is too far behind the baseline, and he won’t win a hard court slam from there. He gave Lacko opportunities last night that Lacko couldn’t take. Fed played a VERY in form Karlovic, who looked great at the net, and did terrific. Some excellent shotmaking and almost no UEs.
I am thrilled that Del Potro seems to be getting better as he gets further as his first two rounds were a little weak.
Some great match-ups look in store for the second week.

It is tough to say where Roger’s game is at. Roger himself said it in his presser. Rafa has looked very sharp. He should reach the final easily unless he meets Del Potro in the semi final. Del Potro will likely trouble Rafa but not beat him on this slow surface. Roger just can not beat Rafa outdoors particularly on this slow and bouncy surface. Roger will probably beat Tomic but the Del Potro match is going to be 50:50. Ironically, the slow surface, which is a big disadvantage for him against Djokocic, Rafa and Murray, may help Roger against Del Potro.

No American male player in the 3rd round of the AO for the first time in the Open Era. Bizarre. It was looking good after the second round.

For some reason this site will echo Brad Gilbert’s nicknames for most players – “Dr.” Ivo Karlovic, “Hot Sauce” Verdasco, etc., but where the sometimes annoying Gilbert has nicknamed Raonic “The Missile” this site continues to call him “Big Baby” or “Big Babyface,” which are more of a shot than a compliment.

I wonder if this has anything to do with my first sentence?

Oh well… sticks and stones. Like Tomic, we all better get used to the idea of Raonic (his other nickname – “Sampras North”) being around for a while.

For decades Tennis Canada would only support players who had coaches who were Canadian, but they recently have allowed Raonic to train in Barcelona under Galo Blanco, who has helped Milos’ game immensely.

sigh….i had a feeling the tomic/dolgo match would go the distance. but such a fantastic match coming up next between tomic and fed! who will the aussies root for? this reminds me of the AO several years ago when djokovic said prior to their match that ‘federer is going down’ and then promptly got beaten in straight sets. let’s see what prevails….nice 5 set win by lopez. seems like isner is always in these 5 setters…at least he won that epic one at wimbledon and is in the record books!

Rafa is playing his best tennis right now. he has already hit 105 winners in this tournament with first serve %-70 till now in AO. He is more aggressive and has really improved his service. His present game stats are even better than last year and 2010 (Rafael Nadal: Strong Signs of Revival? http://bit.ly/zYO8Mv )

Just can’t wait for the next week as it promises to be a fascinating one for all the tennis fans!

tennisfan, thanks for all your number crunching. I still don’t buy it though! Rafa is way behind the baseline and dropping balls short. I really wonder what happened to the player who won the 2010 US Open. All 2010 we saw him move closer to the baseline, go for more winners, and of course, his first serve was really much stronger. I guess shoulder problems might explain the serve coming back to earth, but why would he give up on the evolution of his game to a great hard court player?

@I think it does. Still great sign of aggresiveness of nadal to hit that many winnners, I only hope he will till be able to do that against the top players, instead of going back to his defence to much.

Federer is not going to win this slam. There are only 3 favorites: Djokovic, Nadal and Murray. The last opportunity is the Us open 2012 when Federer, 31, is his prefer slam until his carrer end. Laver, Connors and Sampras won his last slam in grass, and hard court at age of 31. This age is the last chance of a grat player: Agassi and Rosewall are big exceptions. I guess if is not going to win a slam again, now his only goal this year is the gold medal. I think there is his real and only one to win. Djokovic, Nadal, Murray there are better now in five sets and no indoor courts.

Contraray to what most people seem to think, I don’t think AO court speed is disadvantageous to fed, may be its rather advantageous considering that fed has slowed down and a slow court would actually aid him in retrieving rafa’s shots rather than a medium fast court. The slow court of AO might actually help fed in gettng to many of the rafa shots, and also may help fed in playing shots with a bit more time in his hands as these days his reflexes are nowhere as fast as they were during his younger days, and thus a ball reaching fast to him actualy gives him less time to think or adjust, and on the contrary, the slow court may slow down the speed of nadal shots so as to enable fed to reach them and play his shot to counter it with a bit more reaction time, me thinks. So may be AO court is not as hostile to fed as you guys think, particularly whle playing rafa. May be its good that fed isn’t facing rafa at a medium fast court here because in my opinion, rafa is hitting much faster and much deeper these days on hard courts in comparison to before, so that makes him more lethal, and thus i see better chances of fed against rafa either only on slow courts or on fast low bouncing courts.

i would love 2c federer win this but it is a tall order. get thru tomic, delpo, nadal & djokovic. thats a tuff 1. i do feel federer has a difficult draw. big, big guys w/big big serves. if tomic beats federer then it is obvious getting 2 a final in a slam will, indeed, b more difficult, but then again he has

oops didnt finish my thoughts from previous comment. but then again he has nothing to prove. nadal hasnt been tested yet, although its obvious its going 2b another year of djokovic/nadal. yawn, yawn, yawn.